Overweight or underweight indicator and computer.



PATENTED JULY 18, 1905,.

v J. BARRY & M. L. SHAUGHNBSSY.

OVERWEIGHT OR'UNDERWBIGHT INDICATOR AND COMPUTER.

APPLICATION .FI'LBD.AUG. 30.1904. Y

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' UNITED STATES Patented July 18,1905.

' PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN BARRY AND MIOHEAL L. SHAUGHNESSY, OF WESTPHALIA, KANSAS,lASSIGrNORS OF ONE-HALF TO L. J. BARRE'FF AND M. ELMORE, OF

HOISINGTON, KANSAS.

OVERWEIGHT OR UNDERWEIGHXT INDICATOR AND COMPUTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 795,018, dated July 18,1905.

Application iled August 30,1904. Serial No. 222,752.

T (1r/ZZ wil/0717, zit away concern,.-

Be 1tknown that We, JOHN BARRY and Miei-IEM. L. SiIAUGHNEssY, citizensof the United States, residing at Westphalia, in the county of Andersonand State of Kansas,

have invented certain new and useful lmprovements in Overweight orUnderweight Indicators and Computers for Weighing- Scales, of which thefollowing is a specifica- Io tion.

Our invention relates to Weighing-scales, and more especially to thatclass which compute the money value of the articleY weighed and whichare equipped with attachments r 5 to indicate how much in money valuethe articlebeing weighed exceeds or falls below the proper amount; andour object is to produce attachments of this character which operateautomatically and reliably, are of sim- -zo ple and inexpensiveconstruction, and can be applied easily and quickly to computingscalesin general use.

With this object in view the invention consists in certain novel andpeculiar features of 2 5 construction and organization, as hereinafterdescribed and claimed, and in order that it may be fully understoodreference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in Which- 3o Figure1 is a rear face view of the righthand end of a grocers computing-scaleequipped with. an. over and under weight attachment embodying ourinvention, the attachment being broken away to more clearly 3 5 disclosethe construction. Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line Il Ilof Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on the line HI III ofFig. 1.

In the said drawings, l designates the 4o usual traveling frame forminga part of an ordinary grocers computing-scale, and 2 an angular armsecured to or cast therewith and provided with a vertical recess or slot3, into which projects a pin 4, projecting from the end bar 5, rigidlysecured to and connecting the usual scale-beams, only two of said beamsappearing and but one numbered, as at 6. Said beams and bar 5 constitutewhat is hereinafter termed the "scale-beam frame, the same beingbalanced in the customary 5o manner. (Not shown.)

With this class of scale the outward adjustment of the poise (not shown)of course depresses the end of the beam until pin a strikes the bottomof recess or slot 3, the beam 5 5 moving upward as the commodity placedon the scale closely approaches the weight necessary to counterbalancethe poise. When the weight of the poise is counterbalanced, the pinoccupies the position shown in Fig. 1, 6o and when the weightoverbalances the poise the pin of course rises above the positionindicated. To insure that the customer shall receive full value for themoney paid and at the same time expedite the weighing operation, so thatthe salesman shall not lose any unnecessary time, we have provided anattachment which begins to operate just before full weight is placedupon the scale in order to show the money value of the difer- 7o encebetween the weight of the commodity at that time on the scale and theweight which should be there to counterbalance the beam, and thus enablethe salesman to more accurately gage the additional quantity which mustbe placed upon the scale to balance theL beam. By thus warning thesalesman that the quantity which is iirst placed on the scale lacks onlya few cents worth of the quantity which should be placed thereon the 8oweighing operation is facilitated. Furtheri more, by indicating themoney value of the excess or deficiency of the commodity being weighedover or under the proper weight, respectively, ,the necessity foraccurate 8 5 weighing is determined, as accurate weighing of cheapcommodities is not as essential as accurate weighing of expensivecommodities, especially during the rush hours of the day. -9o

Referring to the drawings, 7 designates a standard rising from a clamp,consisting of plate 8, provided withva pair of threaded holes 9,screw-bolts 10, engaging said holes, and plate l 1, through which saidbolts extend, 9 5 the plates 8 and 11 being clamped tightly uponstandard 2, so that standard 7 shall be disposed parallel with andrearward of beam 6. A dial-frame 12, of sheet metal, is pro vided withdownwardlyediverging side walls 13 and a return-bend or gooseneck topportion 14, and said frame is arranged vertically against the rear sideof standard 7 and is provided with vertical slots 15, through whichscrew-bolts 16, carried by the standard, extend for the purpose ofclamping said frame at the desired point of adjustment, said trame beingmade adjustable on the standard in or- .der to accommodate scales ofvarying proportions.

17 designates an arbor mounted in the top portion ot' the 'frame andforming a pivot for the index-hnger 1S. Said linger when the scale isbalanced depends vertically and registers with 0, the central mark ofthe dial marks or indicia oi the plate, said marks being disposedconcentrically olZ pivot 17 and being marked both ways from 0 upward.When the commodity being weighed is worth sixteen cents or more perpound, the divisionmarks represent cent values; but when the commodityis valued at fifteen cents or less per pound said marks representquarter-cent values, it being understood, of course, that the marking ofthe dial corresponds to that (not shown) of the scale proper, in whichone of the beams above beam-6 shows values of fifteen cents or less andthe other beam (not shown) values of sixteen cents or more per pound.

The index-finger is provided with a longitudinal slot 19, through whichextends screwbolt 20, engaged by Aa clamping-nut 21, By back rotation ofsaid nut the screw can be adjusted along the length ot' said slot andrese cured at the point desired by the opposite manipulation of the nut.This adjustment of the screw and nut up or down respectively increasesor diminishes the leverage oi the scale-beam on said finger, and theparticular advantage derived from said adjustable weight is to insurethe proper action of the linger irrespective of the Afact that lostmotion may exist through wear of some of the connections between saidfinger and the beam 6.

22 designates'a plate secured on the upper end of the lfinger, and 23 apivot-pin carried thereby inward or to the lett of the linger, said pinbeing pivotally connected by link 24 with the inner end of a lever 25,mounted on pivot 26, carried by the dial-framework. Outward, or to theright of the latter, said lever is provided with a double-U bend 27 and-28 and from the latter has an arm 29, which being such that downwardmovement ci the beam gives corresponding movement ol the pivoted bracketand through the connections described swings the indexdinger 18 to theleft, while upward movement of the beam through the medium oi lever-arm29 moves said index-finger to the right.

In the practical operation of weighing a commodity the poise of thescale is first set, and as a result the outer end of beam 6 is dcpresseduntil pin 4 strikes the bottom of recess or slot 3, the index-iinger 18at the same time moving to the left until it is at that end ofthedial-indicia. As the weight of the commodity ap roaches that indicatedby the position of t 1e poise the upward movement of the beam begins andis attended instantly by `movement ol the index-finger to the right,

said finger in its progress showing exactly the money value of theamount or quantity ol the commodity which is lacking to .make up therequired weight. The movement oi this index-'linger instantly places thesalesman on guard so that he may avoid placing more than the requiredquantity on the scale, and thus if the commodity happens to be anexpensive one be under the necessity of removing the excess. lf anexcess was placed on the scale, the overweight in money value would benoted at a glance by reference to the indicia of the dial-plate to theright ol the 0 mark. ln the busy hours of the day it would be cheaper togive a slight excess in weight of the cheaper commodities than attemptto bring the scale to an exact balance` as su'l'l'ieient time in theaggregate would be saved to wait on a large number of additionalcustomers.

Frein the above description it will be apparent that we have produced anoverweight and underweight indicator and computer for weighing-scaleswhich operates efficiently and which is obviously susceptible of modi-`lication in a number of particulars without departing from theprinciple of construction and operation involved.

Having` thus described the invention, what we claim as new, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. An overweight and underweight computer attachment 'forweighing-scales, comprising a dial-frame containing indicia, anindex-linger pivoted to said dial-frame to play back and forth acrosssaid indicia, a le ver pivoted to the dial-'frame and linked to theindex-finger, a bracket attached to the outer or free end of the lever,and a clamping deviccattached to the dial-frame and adapted todetachably engage a weighing-scale and serve as a support for theattachment.

2. An overweight and underweight computer attachment Yforweighing-scales, comprising a dial-frame containing indicia, anindex-finger pivoted to said dial-frame to play back and 'forth acrosssaid indicia, a lever pivoted to the dial-frame and linked to the in-TOO IIC

3o ver and the index-finger.

dex-finger, a bracket pivoted to the tree or l outer end of the lever,and a clamping device attached toz the dial-frame and adapted todetachably engage a weighing-scale and serve as a support for theattachment.

3. An overweight and underweight computer attachment forweighing-scales, comprising a dial-frame containing indicia, anindeX-iinger pivoted to said dial-frame to play back and forth acrosssaid indicia, a lever piv oted to the dial-frame and linked to theindex-finger and provided with a horizontal arm. at its free or outerend, a bracket pivotally supported from said end of the lever andprovided with an arm parallelingthe arm ofl the lever, and a clampingdevice attached to the dial-frame and adapted to detachably enage aweighing-scale and serve as a support or the attachment.

4. The combination with a weighing-scale, of an overweight andunderweight indicator and computer, comprising a dial-frame, containingindicia marked from O upward in opposite directions, an index-finger toplay across said indicia, a lever 'mounted on the dial-frame, andprovided with an arm overlying the scale-beam, a bracket pivotallysuspended Jfrom said lever and underlying said beam, and a linkconnection between said le- 5. The combination with a weighing-scale,

oi an overweight and underwei ht indicator and computer, comprising adia -frame', containing indicia marked from 0 upward in oppositedirections, an index-finger to play across said indicia and pivoted inthe dialframe, a plate secured to said finger, a lever pivoted on said'frame and linked to said plate and provided with an arm overlying thescale-beam and a bracket underlying said beam, and an adjustable weightcarried by the finger.

6. The combination with a weighing-scale,

.of an overweight and underweight indicator and computer, comprising astandard clamped on the scale, a dial-frame carried by the standard andcontaining indicia marked from O upward in opposite directions, anindex-iinger to lay across said indicia and pivotedin the diall-frame, aplate secured to saidl iinger, a lever pivoted on said frame and linkedto said plate and provided with an arm overlying the scale-beam and abracket underlying said beam, and an adjustable weight carriedV by thefinger.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in the presence of twowitnesses.

JOHN BARRY. MICHEAL L. SHAUGHNESSY. Witnesses:

ELIAs MADAR, PETE HINTZ.

